Table of Contents for
Kali Linux 2 – Assuring Security by Penetration Testing - Third Edition

Version ebook / Retour

Cover image for bash Cookbook, 2nd Edition Kali Linux 2 – Assuring Security by Penetration Testing - Third Edition by Gerard Johansen Published by Packt Publishing, 2016
  1. Cover
  2. Table of Contents
  3. Kali Linux 2 – Assuring Security by Penetration Testing Third Edition
  4. Kali Linux 2 – Assuring Security by Penetration Testing Third Edition
  5. Credits
  6. Disclaimer
  7. About the Authors
  8. About the Reviewer
  9. www.PacktPub.com
  10. Preface
  11. What you need for this book
  12. Who this book is for
  13. Conventions
  14. Reader feedback
  15. Customer support
  16. 1. Beginning with Kali Linux
  17. Kali Linux tool categories
  18. Downloading Kali Linux
  19. Using Kali Linux
  20. Configuring the virtual machine
  21. Updating Kali Linux
  22. Network services in Kali Linux
  23. Installing a vulnerable server
  24. Installing additional weapons
  25. Summary
  26. 2. Penetration Testing Methodology
  27. Vulnerability assessment versus penetration testing
  28. Security testing methodologies
  29. General penetration testing framework
  30. Information gathering
  31. The ethics
  32. Summary
  33. 3. Target Scoping
  34. Preparing the test plan
  35. Profiling test boundaries
  36. Defining business objectives
  37. Project management and scheduling
  38. Summary
  39. 4. Information Gathering
  40. Using public resources
  41. Querying the domain registration information
  42. Analyzing the DNS records
  43. Getting network routing information
  44. Utilizing the search engine
  45. Metagoofil
  46. Accessing leaked information
  47. Summary
  48. 5. Target Discovery
  49. Identifying the target machine
  50. OS fingerprinting
  51. Summary
  52. 6. Enumerating Target
  53. Understanding the TCP/IP protocol
  54. Understanding the TCP and UDP message format
  55. The network scanner
  56. Unicornscan
  57. Zenmap
  58. Amap
  59. SMB enumeration
  60. SNMP enumeration
  61. VPN enumeration
  62. Summary
  63. 7. Vulnerability Mapping
  64. Vulnerability taxonomy
  65. Automated vulnerability scanning
  66. Network vulnerability scanning
  67. Web application analysis
  68. Fuzz analysis
  69. Database assessment tools
  70. Summary
  71. 8. Social Engineering
  72. Attack process
  73. Attack methods
  74. Social Engineering Toolkit
  75. Summary
  76. 9. Target Exploitation
  77. Vulnerability and exploit repositories
  78. Advanced exploitation toolkit
  79. MSFConsole
  80. MSFCLI
  81. Ninja 101 drills
  82. Writing exploit modules
  83. Summary
  84. 10. Privilege Escalation
  85. Password attack tools
  86. Network spoofing tools
  87. Network sniffers
  88. Summary
  89. 11. Maintaining Access
  90. Working with tunneling tools
  91. Creating web backdoors
  92. Summary
  93. 12. Wireless Penetration Testing
  94. Wireless network recon
  95. Wireless testing tools
  96. Post cracking
  97. Sniffing wireless traffic
  98. Summary
  99. 13. Kali Nethunter
  100. Installing Kali Nethunter
  101. Nethunter icons
  102. Nethunter tools
  103. Third-party applications
  104. Wireless attacks
  105. HID attacks
  106. Summary
  107. 14. Documentation and Reporting
  108. Types of reports
  109. The executive report
  110. The management report
  111. The technical report
  112. Network penetration testing report (sample contents)
  113. Preparing your presentation
  114. Post-testing procedures
  115. Summary
  116. A. Supplementary Tools
  117. Web application tools
  118. Network tool
  119. Summary
  120. B. Key Resources
  121. Paid incentive programs
  122. Reverse engineering resources
  123. Penetration testing learning resources
  124. Exploit development learning resources
  125. Penetration testing on a vulnerable environment
  126. Online web application challenges
  127. Virtual machines and ISO images
  128. Network ports
  129. Index

Automated vulnerability scanning

The purest penetration testers will often comment that using an automated vulnerability scanner is cheating, but in some cases, such as penetration testing, with a limited amount of time, vulnerability scanners are critical to gaining a great deal of information about a target network, in a short amount of time. In Chapter 1, Beginning with Kali Linux, we discussed how to install additional tools into Kali Linux. One such tool was the vulnerability scanner, Nessus. In regards to vulnerability assessment tools, Nessus is a great addition to your tool set.

Nessus

As previously stated, we have addressed installing Nessus in a previous section, so in this chapter we will focus on configuring and executing a vulnerability scan against two targets; a Windows XP workstation and the vulnerable Metasploitable Linux Distribution. From those, you can gain a good understanding of how to use the tool.

To configure a vulnerability scan:

  1. Navigate to https://localhost:8834 and log in. Once you log into Nessus, you will be brought to the Scans page:
    Nessus
  2. We start our scanning by clicking on the New Scan bar. From there, we come to the scan policy page:
    Nessus
  3. The how to use version has a number of additional templates available, but we will be able to utilize the Basic Network Scan. Click on Basic Network Scan. You will then be brought to the Basic Network Scan page:
    Nessus

    Complete the Name, Description and Targets boxes. These are all that are necessary to complete a scan but, as you can see, in the left-hand column, there are a number of different settings. Each of these allows you to customize the scan to fit your specific requirements:

    • General: This is the basic information concerning the scan.
    • Schedule: This allows you to configure a scan and have it run at a specific time. It's especially useful in organizations that want testing to be done after business hours.
    • Notifications: Nessus can be configured with an organization's exchange environment to send e-mail notifications to specific individuals, notifying them when the scan is completed.
    • Discovery: Nessus utilizes a number of different methods for discovering live hosts. Here you can set specific parameters for host discovery.
    • Assessment: Allows you to set the type and depth of scan.
    • Reporting: When it is time to prepare a penetration testing report, having detailed information about the vulnerability scan is important. This feature allows you to set the reporting parameters.
    • Advanced: The advanced settings allow you to change the number of hosts scanned at once and other timing parameters.
  4. Once you have configured your scan, select Save. You will now see your scan listed under My Scans:
    Nessus
  5. Click on the play icon to the right of the scan name. This will run the scan. If you click on the scan name while it is running, you will see the hosts and general vulnerability information:
    Nessus
  6. Clicking on one of the hosts brings you to a more detailed list of vulnerabilities discovered:
    Nessus
  7. Clicking on a vulnerability gives the tester more detailed information about the vulnerability:
    Nessus

This information includes not only information about the vulnerability, but also information on whether there is an exploit available. This allows the penetration tester the ability to craft additional attacks against these vulnerabilities.

Nessus is a powerful tool to use in any penetration testing engagement. It provides a great deal of information and functionality that could not be addressed in this section. It is recommended that you spend some time understanding the features available and how to use them. In addition, Tenable makes the home version free for you to test with. In the event that you have external IPs, or are using Nessus for a client, you will have to use the paid version.